Improved floor-cloth



NITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

STEPHEN M. ALLEN, OF WOBUR'N, MASSACHUSETTS.

IMPROVED FLOOR-CLOTH.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, STEPHEN M. ALLEN, of Wobnrn, county of Middlesex, and State of Massachusetts, have invented a new and improved article and mode of manufacture of figured or ornamented floor covering; and I hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same.

The manufactureof floor or oil cloths, or canvas carpets, as they are sometimes called, has been quite expensive. There are many reasons for this. The principal one, however, is that a large amount of paint, and consequently oil and resinous matter, is required to properly stuff the canvas with. At the present prices of canvas, paint, and of labor to put on the paint renders this article of com modity too expensive to answer the purpose of a cheap substitute for carpets. Moreover, as the strength and durability of this article depend almost entirely upon the amount of paint or stufiing, the consequence is that the better the oil-cloth the more brittle or liable itliis to crack, particularly when exposed to co The object of my invention is to produce a substitute for canvas or cloth body of painted carpets which will be stronger and more durable than canvas,,while its cost will be diminished. The article produced by me has the further advantage that in painting or stuffing the same I am able to economize a large quantity of paint or stufling, because from the nature of the article it will not take. Neither does it need for the reception of the colors more than one-half that required for the ordinary oil-cloth.

To enable others skilled in the art to which this my invention pertains, I shall now proceed to describe the manner in which the same is or may be carried into effect.

I take the ordinary leather scraps from the tannery or shoe-makers shop, and steep and wash them in water, with or without alkalies or other ingredients, so as to take out a portion of the tannin, whereby the leather is rendered more gelatinous than it is in its tanned state. I then grind the scraps in any ordinary pulp-mill similar to those used in the manufacture of paper or straw board, and mix with the same a proper proportion of vegetable or animal fibrous matter from which the gelatinous matter shall not have been extracted, but which shall have been reduced or shortened to the proper lengths, preferably by stranding. During the grinding process leather scraps or some of the fibrous substance is added from time to time until the requisite degree of consistency is attained. The mass is then brought to condensing-rollers or other suitable machine to convert it in sheets. a

In the treatment of the'leather scraps I use those ingredients which are best adapted to the dissolving and washing out of all or a portion of the tannin whose place is taken by the albumen or glutinous substance in the fiber, whereby the intimate admixture of the leather particles with the fibrous matter is efl'ected. The quantity of fiber for a given quantity of leather varies with the degree of elasticity or imperviousness sought to be produced. Iprefor to use unrotted flax or hemp fiber, properly stranded and drawn down for mixing with the leather to make the pulp; but I do not confine myself to those fibers entirely, but use any fiber which possesses oleaginous matter, albumen, gelatine, gluten, or like substances which will unite with the animal fibers in the leather when their tannin has been removed. The effect of such combination is to make a most durable, strong, and

suitable sheet for a carpet which will be impervious to water and will form a good surface to receive the painting, printing, or staining necessary to produce figured or ornamented carpets, and at the same time will cost much less than one made with a canvas body.

, What I claim as my invention, and desire to have secured tome by Letters Patent, is-

1. As a substitute forcanvas and cloth used in the manufacture of painted carpets or floorcoverings, sheets made by combining scrapleather with fibrous substances in the condi tion and manner hereinbefore set forth.

2. The stuffing, painting, printing, or staining, in the manner and for the purpose speci fied, of sheets made by combining scrapleather with fibrous substances in the condi* tion set forth.

3. As a new article of manufacture, a floor- I to this specification before two subscribing witnesses.

STEPHEN M. ALLEN.

Witnesses:

L. BURNETT, LEVI WI KINs. 

